Heisler: Clippers reach new heights, despite owner

Clippers owner Donald Sterling watches Game 1 of the 2013 NBA Western Conference in San Antonio. The Clippers could be in the conference finals in 2014 playoffs, despite some of Sterling's efforts to sidetrack the team. RONALD MARTINEZ, GETTY IMAGES

Donald T. Sterling

Sterling World Plaza

Beverly Hills, Calif. 90210

Dear Donald,

Well, you said to write when I found work!

If you haven’t heard, I’m back writing my Sunday column for the Orange County Register. Yes, it’s in that place you wouldn’t consider moving your team – back when you were in the Sports Arena, drawing flies.

Nevertheless, there’s a thriving community here. If you thought the cars just sailed off into space where the I-5 drops below the L.A. County line, like skeptics contending Columbus would sail off the world, it’s not true.

I know you’re Beverly Hills and Malibu to the max and have netted, say, $200 million in profit since moving into the land of milk and honey, Staples Center.

So moving isn’t an issue ... at the moment. As you and I know, the only thing eternal about the Clippers is (shudder) ... you.

If you’re not sure how you pulled this off, I’m here to tell you, it’s the NBA version of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes.

Actually, with each stage more improbable than the last, it was more like feeding the multitude nightly, like a soup kitchen:

• Rebuilding the roster from scratch after Elton Brand’s torn Achilles’ in 2007.

If your people never scaled such heights before, it’s more remarkable – or luckier – when you note that the guys who did it are gone.

Mike Dunleavy rebuilt the team before you canned him (although you claimed he just stopped coming around), then took you to arbitration (where the stopped-coming-around argument sank without a ripple, costing you every penny he claimed was due him.)

Dunleavy’s protégé, Neil Olshey, not only landed CP3 but set it up so he could choose his coach, even if that cost the head of then-coach Vinny Del Negro.

With Olshey stolen away by Portland’s Paul Allen – after you neglected to offer Neil a contract – Del Negro led the effort that built last season’s NBA-best bench.

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